| Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917. |
| |
| 25. The Nativity |
| By Christopher Harvey (15971663) |
| |
| UNFOLD thy face, unmaske thy ray, | |
| Shine forth, bright Sunne, double the day. | |
| Let no malignant misty fume, | |
| Nor foggy vapour, once presume | |
| To interpose thy perfect sight | 5 |
| This day, which makes us love thy light | |
| For ever better, that we could | |
| That blessèd object once behold, | |
| Which is both the circumference, | |
| And center of all excellence: | 10 |
| Or rather neither, but a treasure | |
| Unconfinèd without measure, | |
| Whose center and circumference, | |
| Including all preheminence, | |
| Excluding nothing but defect, | 15 |
| And infinite in each respect, | |
| Is equally both here and there, | |
| And now and then and every where, | |
| And alwaies, one, himselfe, the same, | |
| A beeing farre above a name. | 20 |
| Draw neer then, and freely poure | |
| Forth all thy light into that houre, | |
| Which was crownèd with his birth, | |
| And made heaven envy earth. | |
| Let not his birth-day clouded be, | 25 |
| By whom thou shinest, and we see. | |
|
|